John Coltrane, Olé Coltrane - 36m 42s

Tracks & Durations

1. Ole	18:14
2. Dahomey Dance	10:50
3. Aisha	7:34

Note: The information about this album is acquired from the publicly available resources and we are not responsible for their accuracy.

Review

Recorded in May 1961, Olé was Coltrane's final recording for Atlantic before moving to Impulse!, and it catches him in a significant transition period. Coltrane had begun playing regularly with multi-reedist Eric Dolphy and they were often working together in expanded formats, like the big band of the contemporaneous Africa/Brass and the varying groups that would create the extraordinary 1961 Village Vanguard recordings. Here he has Dolphy on alto and flute, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, and Art Davis on bowed bass supplementing the usual quartet with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Elvin Jones, emphasizing polyrhythms and dronelike tonal centers. Dolphy was Coltrane's only equal in sheer saxophone technique and exploratory intensity--however different their approaches--and many of their recordings together have an incandescent power.

On these studio recordings, there's an emphasis on tonal color, too, with Dolphy's flute a significant shift. Among trumpeters of the period, Hubbard came closest to matching the new facility of line achieved by the saxophonists. There's a welling power on the 18-minute, Spanish-tinged title track, a direct extension of Coltrane's modal work with Miles Davis and one of his geographical explorations of the period, like "Africa," "India," and "Brazilia." At its core is a throbbing, pulsing, sustained segment between Tyner, Jones, and the two bassists that evolves organically from piano to bowed-bass lead before Coltrane enters on soprano for a brilliant concluding solo. "Dahomey Dance" shifts the rhythmic focus to Africa with full-strength alto and tenor solos, but there are airier textures here as well, in "Aisha," a luminous ballad by McCoy Tyner that's graced by Coltrane's lyrical tenor, and "To Her Ladyship." The recording is a landmark in Coltrane's evolving group concept, and contains work of genuine power and beauty. --Stuart Broomer

Other Versions

Albums are mined from the various public resources and can be actually the same but different in the tracks length only. We are keeping all versions now.

Olé Coltrane

Tracks: 4 (+1 tracks), Disk length: 45m 47s (+9m 5s)

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